On September 14, 2026, Patlytics co-hosted the inaugural IP Innovation Forum in Tokyo alongside Paul Hastings, bringing together senior IP leadership from Canon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Honda, KIOXIA, and IBM with U.S. litigators from Paul Hastings for a discussion on where patent practice is heading on both sides of the Pacific.

Panel One: How Japan's IP Leaders Run Their Practice

Canon's Hideki Sanatake opened the afternoon moderating a conversation among some of the most senior IP executives in the country: Fujifilm's GM of Intellectual Property, Panasonic IP Management's president, Honda's head of IP and legal, KIOXIA's general manager, and IBM's head of IP licensing for APAC and EMEA. 

Rather than a formal presentation, the conversation played out as a candid comparison of notes: how each organization structures its IP team and processes, where the pressure points are, and what's changed in how they think about patent strategy as the technology and business landscape continues shifting.

Panel Two: The View From the United States

The second panel turned to a U.S. perspective with Patlytics' VP of Strategy, Eric Lin, a former litigator at Paul Hastings, moderating a conversation with Naveen Modi, Paul Hastings' global IP Co-Chair, and Rudy Kim, Co-Chair & Litigation Chair of their Palo Alto office. The discussion covered three forces reshaping U.S. patent practice right now, and what each one means for a Japanese company doing business in America:

• The ITC is picking up the slack: as district court damages face tighter scrutiny, more patent owners are turning to a venue with no damages cap and a faster clock.
• The Patent Office is a narrower gate, but it may be reopening: institution rates hit historic lows this year, but recent filings may suggest signs of a rebound.
• AI is changing what "prepared" means: the edge now belongs to whoever has the record already built before a dispute starts, not whoever moves fastest once it does.

The Takeaway

The organizations where patent disputes get decided are shifting, and the companies that will succeed are the ones building their case before a complaint is filed. Domestic industry evidence, license documentation, prosecution history review, all must be created before the fact. With AI, this preparation is easier than ever.

Many thanks to Paul Hastings for co-hosting, to Hideki Sanatake and Canon for helping shape the first panel, and to every attendee who joined us in the room.